US army's 'Soldier of the Year' is a Filipino

(Updated) A Filipino emerged as America’s “Soldier of the Year" after slugging it out in a grueling five-day competition to prove who’s the toughest, smartest and most skilled in the US Army. Spc. Heyz T. Seeker was hailed as this year’s top soldier in the Army’s Best Warrior Competition held from October 1 to 5 at Fort Lee, Virginia. He represented the Special Operations Command and is stationed at Hunter Army Airfield, with the 75th Ranger Regiment. In the same fight, Staff Sergeant Jason R. Seifert emerged as the Army’s top non-commissioned officer (NCO). A member of the 3rd US Infantry (The Old Guard), Seifert represented the Military District of Washington. The US Army’s Sergeant Major Kenneth O. Preston announced their feat during the convention of the Association of the United States Army in Washington last Monday. Seeker participated in the 13 two-man team competition and endured a series of rigorous activities that tested the skills, qualities and abilities of the soldiers in the ranks of private through sergeant first class who have attained best warrior status at 13 major Army commands or regions over the past year. In an Oct. 8 article in the US Army News Service, Seeker said three deployments to Afghanistan and one to Iraq helped prepare him for the competition. "I love the Army, and I love living a structured life," he said. "I'm all about paving the way, leading the way and being the first at something. I was the first in my family to be a ranger, and I'd like to one day become the first Filipino sergeant major of the Army." The 35-year-old soldier said he owes much of his motivation to his victory to his five-year-old daughter. "My daughter was born in 2002, and I felt I had to protect her and I joined the fight against terrorism," Seeker said in an interview that appeared in Richmond Times-Dispatch on Wednesday. According to the report, Seeker had been in the US Army for a decade and has been deployed in war-torn Middle East countries of Afghanistan and Iraq. After rejoining the Army in 2004, his wife gave birth to a son. For now, Seeker, the only one in his family to become an Army Ranger, is determined to be elevated as the first Filipino sergeant major, the Army's top enlisted rank, according to the US army's website. The reports did not say where in the Philippines Seeker came from. Twenty-six soldiers from 13 major commands went through a battery of mental and physical tests including: physical fitness tests, a two-mile run, a written examination on general military topics, a graded essay on an assigned topic, qualification on M-4 rifles qualification, day and night urban warfare, battle drills, written exam on military topics, an essay, a physical fitness test, and a mystery event. This year's competitors included Spc. Jamiell Goforth, a combat medic with the 4th Infantry Division. She is the first female to become the US Army Forces Command Soldier of the Year, and was the only female to reach the 2007 Army-level competition. In his fathers’ footsteps Seeker said he was inspired to join the military after hearing the heroic stories of his father and stepfather who both fought in World War II. His biological father died when he was two years old. “When my father fought in World War II to liberate the Philippines, I felt to actually walk in his footsteps to liberate a country that we are fighting for overseas," he said in an interview with Fox News. Determined to make his fathers proud, he set foot on the United States in 1991 to join the Army. Seeker became a forward observer artilleryman in his first enlistment, according to Army Families Online. in an article posted on Oct. 9. In 1995, he was transferred to the National Guard as an armored crewman before signing up as an infantryman in 2004. With his accomplishments in the military, Seeker actually considers another battlefield as an equal challenge: the kitchen. In between his Army enlistments, Seeker was a sushi chef apprentice in San Diego, California for six years. So it’s no surprise that this Filipino-American top soldier plans to open his own sushi bar when he decides to roll rice instead of tanks upon retirement. “Americans just love sushi," Seeker confessed in the same interview with Fox News. - Mark J. Ubalde, GMANews.TV